What I Learned to Drive In

I learned how to drive a car rather early on in life…I was 12, to be exact. At the church that I grew up in, one of the men there had taken me under his wing and had mentored me for awhile. Since I was a part of the Royal Rangers, and he was one of the leaders, it made it easier for me to learn vital skills in wilderness survival, and life in general.

One particular weekend he had invited me to come up with him and his family to his parents’ house to get away from the city. Being a pre-teen, I jumped at the chance to get away from the daily grind of life in general…which I would recommend to this day. Once we got there, I had noticed something parked near the garage.

It was this, but in white:

I was fascinated by this, as this was one of the first older Japanese cars that I had seen in real life. Mostly domestics dominated my daily life, as my Grandmother and Father had drove nothing but Fords (Grandmother was driving a 1985 Ford LTD II then), and Lincolns (Father was driving a 1979 Lincoln V and a Pontiac J2000 as a daily driver). The only other one that I had seen was a Datsun B210 that my uncle had picked up for his youngest daughter to drive, to which he still has until this day. Oddly enough, he had painted it teal…he’s really big into the whole Aztec theme. Most of his vehicles are of a copper/teal/blue hue. He tends to not get rid of cars…ever.

Anyways, I had remarked at what a good looking car it was, to which this man replied, “would you like to drive it around the farm”? You might as well have asked a fat man if he would have liked some free cake! Of course I jumped at the chance!

Luckily, it was an automatic, so after a brief tutorial…I was ready to go! Naturally, it took a bit to get all of the kinks out, but the whole experience felt natural. I’ve been hooked on driving ever since!